- Most people in Northern Ireland want to stay in UK, Jeffrey Donaldson says in interview with Anadolu

- New trade deal puts Northern Ireland in 'very strong position,' with access both UK's integrated market, EU single market, says Donaldson

LONDON 

With deadlock over post-Brexit trade rules finally resolved between London and Belfast, Northern Ireland's biggest unionist party is confident that the region will grow stronger as part of the UK.

Most people in Northern Ireland want to remain part of Britain, Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said in an interview with Anadolu.

"I am convinced that we are better off remaining part of the United Kingdom," he said, following an event in London.

His remarks came after the DUP ended its boycott of Stormont after agreeing to a new deal with the British government on post-Brexit trade rules.

"Of course, it is for others to make the case for a united Ireland, but I think that the very strong majority of people in Northern Ireland still want to be part of the UK," Donaldson said in response to a question about remarks made by the leadership of nationalist party Sinn Fein on the idea of a "united Ireland."

Nationalist sentiments are also at a high point in Northern Ireland since Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill made history as its inaugural republican first minister.

On Jan. 31, Mary Lou McDonald, who leads Sinn Fein, said Irish unity was within "touching distance."

But Donaldson is skeptical. After the statement, he had said McDonald must have "the longest arms on the island of Ireland."

"That is just not where we are," he had argued.

Real economic growth

On the new deal with the UK government, called Safeguarding the Union, Donaldson stressed that Northern Ireland now had the opportunity for real economic growth, which would include foreign investment.

"I am delighted that the Turkish ambassador (Koray Ertas) recently visited Northern Ireland and we are looking at the potential to grow and develop our economic and trading links with Türkiye, and Northern Ireland wants to be part of that.

"We want to see Turkish companies investing in the UK. We want to see greater trade between our countries," he added.

Donaldson went on to say that the new deal puts Northern Ireland in "a very strong position," enjoying "unfettered access" to not only the UK's integrated market, but also gaining access to the EU single market.

He had mentioned earlier that due to post-Brexit checks and rules on goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland, British goods could not make it to supermarkets across Northern Ireland.

Cooperation with London

Expressing pleasure over UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's efforts to reach the deal, Donaldson said he believes the relationship with the government has improved as a result of the negotiations that led to the deal.

"We will continue to work closely with the current government to deliver even more for Northern Ireland," he said, adding that the DUP is happy to work with an incoming government after elections later this year, be it Conservative or Labour.

"We have a good relationship with (Labour Party leader) Keir Starmer and his team, and I believe they are people we can work with, just as we are able to work with the Conservative government," added the DUP leader.

Following the power-sharing deal that ended almost two years of political impasse, politicians gathered in Stormont, Northern Ireland's parliament, in early February to appoint a series of ministers to the devolved executive.